In areas exposed to wind and snow, in order to reduce drifting in undesired areas, snow fences are often used to capture windblown snow. An example of a common snow fence design is the Wyoming Design Board Snow Fence which consists of two or more vertical posts and a number of horizontal slats fixed along one side of the posts. The slats are spaced apart to allow wind to pass through but sufficiently close together to interrupt wind flow, create turbulence, and impose drag on the snow particles, thereby releasing snow from the wind and depositing it in drifts either upwind or downwind of the fence.
While current snow fences are effective in reducing undesired drifting, they suffer from certain drawbacks. First, current fence designs have not been optimized for maximum snow removal, and substantial quantities of snow are able to pass through these fences and remain windborne. In addition current fences are imprecise in the deposition of captured snow and tend to create drifts which are spread out over wide areas rather than dense drifts in close proximity to the fences.
Of further interest in connection with present invention is land reclamation. In land areas that have undergone mining, oil or gas drilling, or other activities resulting in devegetation, reclamation depends upon adequate irrigation. This is particularly important during the late spring and early summer when seeds are germinating. In areas of winter snow fall, melting snow can provide a water supply for such germinating seeds. However, in many areas, particularly where climate changes have resulted in higher temperatures and/or reduced snow fall, snow does not remain on the ground long enough to provide adequate irrigation during the period of seed germination. Therefore other irrigation sources are required such as wells, pumps, piping, and/or water trucks, dramatically increasing the cost and environmental impact of reclamation.
Because many areas undergoing reclamation have little vegetation and therefore few obstacles to wind, snow fences may be used to control drifting during the winter months. While the drifts created by such fences may have greater depth than the naturally dispersed snow cover, as pointed out above these drifts tend to be spread out over relatively large areas with fairly shallow depth. As a result these drifts melt more quickly than would a deep, concentrated drift, and frequently melt too early to provide adequate irrigation for seed germination. Therefore the use of other irrigation sources remains critical to successful reclamation even where snow fences are in use.
For these and other reasons, it would be desirable to provide a snow fence which maximized capture of windblown snow and optimized the characteristics of the drifts in which such snow is deposited. Desirably, the snow fence should deposit the snow in highly concentrated drifts of maximum depth in close proximity to the fence. Additionally, the snow fence should be low cost and simple to manufacture and install.
Further, it would be desirable to provide improved methods of land reclamation. Specifically, reclamation methods are needed which can extend the presence of winter snows to provide adequate irrigation for germinating seeds in the spring and thereby reduce the dependence upon external irrigation sources.